Interview With Kevin Sullivan

Canadian Kevin Sullivan recently switched coaches bringing new life to his career and a new 3000m Canadian record of 7:42.17 at the Tyson Invitational

Mar 3, 2006

Leaving his home country of Canada as the first high school athlete in North America to break 4:00 in the mile since Marty Liquori, Kevin Sullivan enrolled at the University of Michigan where, under the direction of Coach Ron Warhurst, he earned three individual NCAA titles. The following years would see the former hockey player from Brantford, Ontario set many Canadian national records and finish fifth at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 1500 meters; the future seemed bright for Sullivan. The following five years would see many fine performances, but never that next great breakthough. A move from his home base in Ann Arbor in late 2004, so his wife Karen Harvey could take over as head women's cross country coach at the University of Illinois, found Sullivan for the first dealing with a long distance coach/athlete relationship. After another disappointing season in 2005, Sullivan started looking for a change. In stepped Juli Henner who would take over his training, and new life was pumped into his career. Following a new Canadian record of 7:42.17 3000 meters at the Tyson Invitational in Arkansas, Sullivan gave his thoughts on his new coach, the upcoming World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka Japan and Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, and his future in the sport.

Runners World Daily: What are your thoughts on your new coach, Juli Henner?Kevin Sullivan: Juli is well educated in the sport, extremely thorough with her training plans, and a great motivator. She has really helped to make me start believing in my ability and my fitness which is something I have lacked the last couple of years.

RWD: Why did you make the change?KS: There were a number of reasons that I made the change. I had been working in a long-distance coaching relationship with Ron Warhurst since moving from Ann Arbor to Champaign (Illinois) in the fall of 2002. And things were working pretty well in 2003 and 2004, where I was spending significant periods of time in Ann Arbor training. In 2004, I was in Ann Arbor from late April through to the end of the Olympic Games. I only saw my wife for a total of one week during that time and decided after that I wasn't going to spend that kind of time away again. But what I found was that Ron and I were having some communication issues last year which we were both at fault for. It was a lot easier when I was right there in Ann Arbor and able to walk into the office and we could sit down for an hour or two and hash things out. But with my decision to spend more time at home training, the long distance coaching relationship just wasn't working the way I had hoped it would. And on top of that, I wasn't performing the way I wanted to and I wasn't having fun with the sport anymore. I was feeling stale and lethargic all the time and every day just dreaded going to train. I talked with a few very close friends in the sport about all of this and the one common theme that came out of all of it was that maybe a change would be good for me at this point in my career.

RWD: Are all your workouts done alone or do you split your time between home for DC (where Henner is based)?KS: Other than five days I spent in DC in November, I have been doing all my workouts alone here in Champaign. I will probably travel out to DC for a couple of short training stints during the spring or early summer, but nothing along the same lines as what I was doing prior to the 2004 Olympics.

RWD: Are there any major differences in the training now?KS: I don't feel like there are any "major" differences. Every training program should have all of the fundamental elements needed to develop a distance runner. So from that aspect, the programs are similar in that those fundamental elements were present in my training under Ron and are present in my training under Juli. However, the workouts are different, where and when we touch on different energy systems is different. So basically, all the same tools are being used, but the blueprint is a little different. I am doing a larger amount of supplemental work outside of running, more flexibility and mobility work, and more cross training, while my overall amount of running is lower by about ten percent.

RWD: The last few years can be described as a little rough for you. Was there ever a time when you thought about giving it all up? And if so, what kept you going?KS: The last two years have been disappointing because I have such high expectations for myself. I seriously thought about giving it up after the indoor season last year. Training was a struggle, racing was a struggle, and I just wasn't having any fun with the sport anymore. And I had always told myself that if I wasn't having fun with the sport anymore, that was the time I was going to hang it all up. Then I went to World Cross Country and was in a very positive environment with my national team, had some great workouts and then, after a horrible start in the race, worked my way through the field to end up with my best finish. I followed that up with what I would term as a mediocre track season up to the World Championships.

RWD: How many more years do you see yourself competing at this level?KS: I have made a commitment to training and competing at a high level through the 2008 Olympics.

RWD: What are your thoughts on returning to Australia--where you finished fifth in the 2000 Olympics - for the upcoming Commonwealth Games?KS: Australia has been very good to me. In addition to that fifth place at the Olympics, I also have a silver medal from the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, and a second consecutive Grand Prix Final appearance in 2001 in Melbourne. I am excited to be headed back down under, but more excited to have another opportunity to represent my country at an international competition.

RWD: How do you like coaching at Illinois? Once you retire from competition, is this something you will pursue on the college or pro level?KS: I have really enjoyed the opportunities I have had here at Illinois. When Karen and I first arrived in town (2002), former head men's coach Gary Wieneke welcomed me with open arms and brought me straight onto his staff as a volunteer coach and gave me a group of 800-meter runners to work with. At the end of that season, Coach Wieneke retired. My wife had a volunteer assistant already lined up for that fall, and the new head coach of the men's track team, who had not yet hired a distance coach, told me he was not going to make any decisions on a volunteer coach on the distance side. So I took a year off from coaching, and when Karen's volunteer stepped aside due to law school commitments, I came onto the women's staff as a volunteer assistant. Working with the women's staff has been a great experience. It is a staff that first and foremost is about respect and integrity. Karen has taken a team that was ninth in the Big Ten her first year on campus to their first every team appearance at the NCAA championships in 2004 to a fifth place finish in 2005. Head Track Coach Gary Winkler is brilliant with the sprints, hurdles and jumpers, and former World and Olympic 400-meter hurdles medalist Tonja Buford-Bailey brings a wealth of experience to the staff that is unmatched though the rest of the conference.

I had hoped to be coaching on the college level as early as this year. Paul Pilkington resigned from Illinois as the distance coach at the end of last summer and I applied and interviewed for the position. Unfortunately, for my future coaching career, I was not offered the position. That makes it pretty unlikely that I would get into college coaching as the opportunities for Karenand I to both be coaching at the same institution are most likely very slim. I would consider coaching at the pro level, or the high school level. I really would like to stay involved in the sport to some capacity when I am done with my competitive career.

RWD: How is it having your wife as your boss?KS: No comment. Seriously though, we work more as partners than as boss and subordinate. But at the end of the day, it is her team, and I understand and respect that.

RWD: At Michigan, you worked with the men. At Illinois, you're working with the women. Is there any major difference in the experience?KS: The biggest difference for me was just getting used to the training times. At the beginning, I had to really think about what a good 400-meter session or mile repeat session was compared to what I was used to working with men. There are also some emotional differences between male and female athletes which has been interesting to observe.

RWD: What are your thoughts on recent Canadian 3000 record at the Tyson Invitational?KS: I was extremely encouraged by the result. When asked how training was going, I had been hesitant to really make any predictions about my fitness because I felt it was difficult to evaluate where I was because the training and the workouts were different from what I was used to in the past. It made it difficult for me to look back and compare my fitness to other years. But what Juli has been trying to get through to me is that I don't need ten years of training logs to compare workouts with to gain confidence from. I need to gain confidence from the training that we are doing right at this moment. So I think the record really reinforced that idea to gain confidence from the training and that will carry over into my competitions.

RWD: World Cross Country and the Commonwealth Games are both in the Eastern Hemisphere. Are you going to stay in that half of the world between the two, or are you coming back to your base?KS: The end of the Commonwealth Games is one week before World Cross Country so those of use competing in both events will head from Melbourne straight to Fukuoka.

RWD: The Commonwealth Games is early in the year. How will this affect your overall year?KS: I don't think it is going to affect the overall year much. It helps that this is an off year for World Champs (outdoor), so there is no rush to try and get to Europe and start chasing standards. We will probably go back into a small base building phase when I get back from World Cross Country, as I will be doing more sharpening work in March than would be normal for this time of year. But overall, I don't anticipate any huge changes to the way I go about preparing for the outdoor season.

RWD: How important to you is World Cross Country in your overall year?KS: It has been more important in past years mainly because I am usually in more of a 3K/5K training mode at that time of year. But this year my primary focus is getting ready for the 1500 at Commonwealth Games. I feel like I can run well at World Cross Country off the training that I am doing, but the focus is definitely on Commonwealth.

RWD: Next year, the 4K race will be dropped from the World Cross Country Championships. Will you run the 12K next year?KS: I don't think so. I really don't see the 12K fitting into any training scenario unless I made a decision to move up in distance.

RWD: When the time comes to retire, how do you want to be remembered?KS: It really doesn't matter to me. No matter how I want to be remembered or how I think I should be remembered, there will always be someone out there who tries to be negative about it. You see it on the running message boards all the time. If you have success, you are criticized for something; if you have a setback, you are criticized for something else. It's pretty sad really that some people have nothing better to do than try to tear apart all the good things many elites do for the sport. All that matters to me is that my family and friends respect the time, effort, dedication and passion I had for the sport. I don't care what anyone outside of that thinks about me or my career.

RWD: You have had a long international career. Which location has been yourfavorite to compete in?KS: If I had to choose a favorite location, it would probably be Lausanne, Switzerland. The meet hotel is right on Lake Geneva, which makes for a beautiful setting. The meet itself is one of the most athlete friendly that I have ever been too. Another favorite, staying with the Swiss theme, is Zurich. The crowd atmosphere is completely unlike anything else I have ever experienced. Closer to home, in North America, I love running in Victoria (British Columbia). Whether it be or a meet or just for a training stint, it is arguably (one of) the best running towns in North America.

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